


Look Who's Talking

by warmfluffypastries



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: F/M, Strangers to Lovers, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28182330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warmfluffypastries/pseuds/warmfluffypastries
Summary: Based on the movie 'Look Who's Talking'. Similar premise, but different.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Finn Collins/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 18
Kudos: 47





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you looking for another chapter of _Ark Descending_ it just wasn't coming today. This is the work that I was planning to post for the month of December, but I got side tracked with that one.
> 
> Anyway, the first few chapters are very Clarke focused and by extension and the premise of the story, Finn heavy, but I promise this is a Bellarke story.
> 
> Also, if you haven't seen the movie it does feature the voice of a baby from sperm to one year old, so most of the things in italics are the voice of a baby. And in this chapter that means the actual sperm.

_It’s a long arduous journey, he thinks as he continues into the soft pillowy cavern he was unceremoniously dumped into. He’s joined by many others along the way, millions of them start the trek, only a select few will pass the first **impenetrable** barrier. _

_He finds the hole easily enough, wiggling his way through with ease, many others start to follow as the whole grows minutely. He comes upon a fork in the road and trusts his instincts to guide him, it’s what he has been programmed for, he can barely believe his luck when he comes upon his prize: perfect and ripe for the taking._

_He’s not expecting the next barrier to be quite so tough, but he’s diligent in his pursuit, he stays the course and eventually cracks the seal, worming his way inside, he finds he’s lost a part of himself as he continues to the center of his prize._

_And then suddenly he is calmed, joined now by his other half and then there are sparks as live takes hold. They are now one, he, the victor of this mighty quest, besting the others that started with him; she, the perfectly ripe and oh so willing victim._

“Oh...Finn!” Clarke hopes she’s conveying the right amount of disappointment and hopefulness as he pulls out, neither of them notice the tiny tear in the condom as he disposes of it.

“That was great, babe,” he’s breathless, already pulling his cargo pants up from his thighs, never having completely undressed; in fact, his pristine paramedic’s shirt is still in mint condition.

“Yeah,” Clarke sighs, unsure if he’s even aware she didn’t orgasm, but aware that they are short on time and their tryst is clearly over for now. Quickly, shimmying back into her jeans, she grabs her lab coat and stethoscope from the cot next to the wall where they’d just fucked. “We still on for tomorrow night?”

“Sorry Doc, got a shift shuffle this morning, and I’m working,” his remorse seems genuine, but this is at least the tenth time they’ve had sex, and they’ve yet to have a proper date. “I’ll make it up to you, but I’ve got to run now.”

“Yeah, of course,” she nods, and he’s right, they both need to get back out there, his partner is more than likely already waiting in the ambulance bay. He is quick to scramble out of the on call room, they’d only shuffled into what felt like moments ago, after he’d brought in his most recent patient.

If only Clarke had known then exactly how naive she was around him...and what the next several years had in store for her.


	2. Chapter 2

_**6 Weeks Later** _

It’s all Clarke can do to make it to the toilet in time, she vaguely hears the shuffling of feet as people exit the restroom quickly, she’s puking for the third day in a row. She can honestly say she has no idea what is causing, because she usually feels fine when she’s not throwing up. The metallic scent of blood was still lingering in her nose and she gags at it again, it is a serious problem for an ER doctor.

“You okay, Clarke?” she recognizes Harper’s voice, assumes the nurse has followed her as she jogged past the admin desk. Clarke manages a moan that resembles an ‘mmhmm’ before she pukes again. Once she’s sure that she is finished she flushes the disgusting mess and steps out of the stall, “you sure? You don’t look so hot.”

“I think it’s just a stomach bug that’s going around,” Clarke swishes her mouth out, drinking straight from the faucet, careful not to touch it, and then washes her hands, “probably picked it up from a patient.”

“Surprised I didn’t get it first then,” Harper remarks, turning to lean back against the sink two down from where Clarke is examining her reflection. Harper crosses her arms with a significant look in her direction, “also, haven’t heard of any stomach bug patients in the last couple of days.”

“Huh?” Clarke shrugs, “you sure?”

“Yup, puking patients have been surgical or overdoses, so try again.”

“It’s a hospital Harp, there’s always someone with something,” Clarke rolls her eyes and Harper follows as she exits the restroom heading for the intake desk.

“How’re things with Finn?” Harper changes the subject, or at least Clarke thinks she is, and she grabs an iPad from it’s docking station, examining the screen to ensure she grabbed the correct chart before handing it to Clarke, “elderly couple, both complaining of headaches, with no apparent cause.”

“Finn’s fine,” Clarke begins, reading the relevant information from the chart, “we actually managed to grab dinner the other night, before he got a phone call and had to rush to the station,” they move towards a curtained area slowly, so that they may continue their conversation.

“So, you’ve still only had sex in the hospital? It’s been 3 months Clarke,” Harper sighs, “maybe it's your asshole boyfriend making you sick...tell him to man up or move on.” 

“It’s not that easy, he has a high demand job...and so do I, which I am currently doing,” Clarke pulls back the curtain, effectively ending their conversation, “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, I hear you’re experiencing some headaches?”

Clarke manages to have a relatively peaceful day after her conversation with Harper, she does her best to avoid the nurse’s eyes when she has free time. She understands her friend doesn’t exactly approve of her relationship, but she also knows it’s only because Harper wants her to be happy. She also hasn’t felt the need to rush back to the porcelain god, even though she never quite shakes the uneasy feeling in her belly. But she feels confident that she has overcome the worst of it and has settled comfortably for the last half hour or so, with an iPad to review and sign off on as many patient charts as she can.

“You free, Clarke?” Dr. Nyko, the head attending asks as he passes by the patient bed she’s settled on in the hallway, “we’ve got incoming, female, late 20s, leg apparently mangled by her motorcycle after she laid it down.”

“Yeah,” she’s quick to follow him towards the ambulance bay. She’s not surprised to see Finn’s rig already parked, rear doors swinging wide. It is different to see him jumping down with Murphy to help unload the patient, but she doesn’t think much of it.

“Raven Reyes, 29, her leg was trapped under her Harley as she skid nearly a mile, bone appears to be shattered, couldn’t find a tibial pulse,” Finn’s partner, John Murphy, gives the call as they unload the bed. Again, it doesn’t mean much to her that Finn is not the one doing the call, everyone is focused on the patient.

“How long’s she been unconscious?” Nyko asks, helping to maneuver the bed through the halls to the trauma room. They easily shift her to the waiting bed, and Harper appears to help Clarke begin removing the protective layers from the field. 

“10 minutes,” Murphy supplies, “there doesn’t appear to be any head trauma, pretty sure it’s just the pain.”

“Is the leg going to make it?” Finn questions, peering at Clarke from across the bed.

“Haven’t looked at it yet,” Nyko barks, annoyed, he’s never liked the paramedic, and Clarke has never understood why, but she also knows that he doesn’t like extra bodies in his trauma rooms. “Let’s run some fluids, Harper, and do a type and cross, get as many units up from the blood bank as you can. Looks like she’s lost plenty.”

“She’s A-,” Finn supplies, before anyone can begin drawing blood, “how’s the leg look?”

“We’ll have to wait for ortho,” Clarke glances down at the mangled mess, “but not great,” she gulps the sight and smell of blood, once again making her stomach turn uncomfortably.

“She’s waking up,” Harper alerts them, and most eyes snap to the patient’s face, Nyko is busy ensuring that all the bleeders have been clamped, “Hi Raven, you were in a pretty bad motorcycle accident and you’re currently in the hospital.”

“Finn?” Raven questions, and he immediately jumps to her side, “you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he promises, and that’s when Clarke’s entire vision blurs, everything seeming to slow to a crawl. His left hand is reaching for the patient’s and she can clearly see a thick, black band wrapped around his left ring finger, it matches the one on the left hand currently searching thin air. She finally takes him in fully, he’s not wearing his uniform, in fact he’s wearing jeans and heavy leather boots. A motorcycle shirt is tucked neatly in and she’s positive that somewhere there is a black leather jacket to complete the look. It’s not all that dissimilar to what their patient is currently wearing, herself. “Focus on you right now, okay?”

“I can’t feel my legs,” she murmurs, and Clarke is glad there are other doctors in the room, everyone seems to jump into action at once and Clarke is frozen. Her desperate urge to throw up has returned full force and this time she’s positive it’s not the scent of blood making her sick.

“Bleeding’s all clamped,” Nyko announces, and Dr. Tsing, who Clarked doesn’t even remember showing up, is urging everyone out of the way as she shouts about x-rays and surgery. 

Finn follows close behind the mass of bodies, but he pauses in the doorway, glancing backward, “Clarke?”

She can very clearly see the indecision in his eyes, he is torn in that moment, and he is caught, she almost feels sorry for him, “go,” she urges, he doesn’t budge, eyes still on her form, “go be with your wife, Finn!” she nearly yells it at him, and it seems to jump start the man, because he takes off at a jog to catch up. 

Clarke can feel her knees buckling and her breath struggling to come, she doesn’t hit the ground though, arms quickly wrap under her own and urge her to breath deep. It’s Harper, and it’s all Clarke can do to nod and try to follow along with the breathing techniques being whispered in her ear.

_**Woah** he bounces unexpectedly...he senses immense sadness around him, but can only focus on the fact that he suddenly can see. He has two new appendages he can wave them in front of his face and then flex and wiggle when he urges them to._

_**Very cool!** he thinks to himself, and then that wave of sadness again, and then suddenly he’s feeling sick._

_He’s been feeling the sickness a lot. He’s hopeful whatever’s going on outside settles down soon, because he is getting hungry and he’s not sure she fully understands what’s going on inside._

_**Does she even know about me yet?**_

Her shift ends somewhere during the haze of Harper helping her to the restroom and helping her clean up. She’s not sure if anyone else is able to figure out what’s going on, but she quickly bundles up in her parka and scarf, hiding her eyes behind big dark glasses, and gets out of there as fast as she can. 

She puts her mother’s lessons to good use and compartmentalizes everything on the way home, she’s dreaming of multiple pints of Ben and Jerry’s and some sad movies to cry it out over as she walks the nearly ten blocks.

As she pushes through the front door, her phone dings with a text alert. She’s forgotten dinner at her Mom’s tonight.

Her world has been rocked today, and the last thing she wants to do is receive a lecture from her mother about not coming to dinner; so she pushes that box with her feelings for the day further back in her mind and takes a quick shower. Applying the bare minimum makeup to make it look like she is trying, she puts on a soft cashmere sweater and a pair of skinny jeans, just a pinch too tight and pulls on a pair of boots.

She only lives two blocks from their upper east side condo, so it’s less than an hour after receiving her mother’s text message that she is waving at the doorman as she breezes through the lobby. Her mom and Marcus had married nearly 5 years ago, and it's been a ritual to have family dinner twice a month since then, the formalities of greetings don’t take long. Clarke gets a hug from her mom and a pat on the back from Marcus, before they move to the table.

Clarke is surprised, herself, that her mouth waters at the sight of her mother’s lasagna, she’s never been a huge fan of her mother’s cooking, but now she feels ravenous at the sight of it and digs in heartily.

“What’s wrong?” Abby asks, as soon as Clarke takes a second large bite, “you’ve never liked my cooking.”

“I like your cooking fine, Mom,” Clarke grumbles, and tries to slow herself as she takes another, small bite, “I didn’t eat on shift, I’m hungry.”

“This isn’t hungry eating,” Abby appraises her and then glances pointedly at Marcus, “does this seem normal to you?”

“She’s hungry, dear,” Marcus winks at Clarke, taking a bite of his own, “let the poor girl eat, she works hard.”

“Thank you,” Clarke nods, taking another larger than normal bite. She may be processing her feelings with food, but at least it’s ooey gooey cheesy goodness.

Abby still eyes her rather suspiciously, before focusing back on her own meal, “so have you started seeing anyone?”

“Mom,” she drops her fork with a groan, “we’ve been over this, my dating life will be mine until I feel like there is something to tell you.”

“Is there something to tell me?” she insists, “Callie swears she saw you out with a man last night, and I had to play along, act like I knew what she was talking about.”

“You didn’t have to,” Clarke shrugs, “it was one date, Mom. That’s it.” Sadly, how true that was, for the three months she’d been having sex with Finn, it really only had been one date, “since we’re on the topic though...how did you know Dad was _the one_?”

“You just know Clarke,” she shrugs, helplessly, “just like I knew with Marcus too,” she sighs, reaching to take her husband’s hand, “there’s an immediate connection and a spark you never see coming.”

Well if that’s true she knows for sure Finn is not _the one_ even before today’s revelations, she’s always felt like something was missing with him. And she should’ve known to never settle for someone who couldn’t even bring her to orgasm, no matter how much he helped scratch the itch. 

They move on to lighter topics, work, how their two hospitals are handling different things, and before they know two hours have passed and Clarke is bundling back up to walk back to her own apartment.

It’s as she’s settling into bed that night, she has a sudden and startling realization. Her period is nearly 3 weeks late and she doesn’t have a stomach bug, _”Damnit Finn!”_

Knowing she’s not going to be able to sleep without knowing for sure, she pulls on her favorite sweats over her sleep shorts and shirt, slips into her fur lined, ugly as sin crocs, and wraps her parka around her to hustle down to the corner store. It’s one of her favorite parts about living in the city, it never sleeps, and she can rush down whenever she gets a craving or has a tampon emergency she can just slip on down and get it done.

She heads straight for the family planning aisle, death-glaring at the condoms as she passes them before arriving at the pregnancy tests. She reads through the information on the back of two boxes before deciding to grab them both. One recommended taking the test first thing in the morning, so she’d save that one for tomorrow. She doesn’t have the patience, or the ability to sleep, if she waits all night. 

Then she heads for the freezer section, she grabs two pints of Ben and Jerry’s only double checking that she doesn’t end up with _Chunky Monkey_ , before heading for the snack food. Finding two chocolate snack cakes, she adds those to her basket as well, before heading for the counter. The bored clerk gives her a more than cursory glance. But Clarke must have a pretty menacing look on her own face, because they don’t say anything. And she makes it out of the store without a word exchanged with anyone.

She grabs a paper cup from the cabinet as soon as she drops her coat on the couch. Heading straight for her bathroom, she pees quickly and then deposits the test in her urine to process. After washing her hands she heads back to the kitchen to create her dessert. She shoves the snack cakes to the bottom of her bowl and then fills the top ins with ice cream. She busies herself setting up her laptop to watch “Love, Actually”. It’s as she is strategically arranging the pillows on the bed that the timer on her iPhone goes off, and she goes to chuck.

POsitive...and she knows in her gut that it’s true..and so she cries her way through the movie and the maticated dessert she’s made. Using her online patient portal to set up an OB appointment for first thing the next day. At least it was her day off and she could take the time to process.

She wakes with a pounding headache and what’s left of her dessert soaking into her favorite sweat pants. She showers, oping to wash away some of the grittyness of tears still on her face, and the headache eases as she sludges through her morning routine.

“WEll it does in fact appear true,” Dr. Jackson announces entering the eam room she’s been placed in . His nurse had taken a urine sample and instructed her to get dressed in the gown, not evnen five minutes ago, “As you can tell, the test didnt’ even need the full five minutes.”

“Great,” She grumbles, and he pats her knee in sympathy, she is known him since she was 15, he’d been a med student under her mother, but was now an upper east side OBGYN with a thriving practice.

“I take it this wasn’t planned?” he settles on his stool.

“It wasn’t even a planned date,” she laughs, as he motions for her to lay back, to begin palpating her abdomen.

_Woah! What was that?_

“Well as you know you do have options,” he settles once again on his stool, “but let’s get a real good look at things here, okay?”

“I don’t want an abortion,” Clarke tells him definitively, “I’ve known my biological clock has been ticking for a while.”

“That’s totally up to you,” he promises.

Clarke leaves her appointment feeling so much better about everything, she has a tiny person growing inside of her, and so far they are safe and healthy...now she just has to tell Finn.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I switched the baby's thoughts/talk to **bold** because apparently the only what I feel that characters can emphasize specific words is to _italicize_.
> 
> Also, if you go back and watch this movie through a modern lens it really doesn't hold up that well, so I'm trying to walk the line between the late 80s storytelling and modernday.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Day 21 of 31

Finding Finn later that day is relatively easy...he’s camped out in the waiting room on the surgical floor. Clarke smiles at the nurse at the front desk before spotting him. He hasn’t changed clothes since yesterday and there are 3 empty cups on the table next to him, what she assumes is coffee.

His phone is also laying in front of him and she can see her contact info is pulled up, “you actually have to hit the cll button if you want that to work,” she snarks, crossing her arms and staring him down. His guilty look is almost pathetic when he looks up, “you aren’t going to say anything?”

“There’s not really anything to say...you’ve made up your mind now, that I’m a bad guy...other than I’m sorry, which you won’t accept,” he shrugs, helpless.

“What should I, Finn?” she huffs, “you’ve shown me nothing to prove you're actually sorry. And I can’t even be mad at you for that, because your _WIFE_ was in a horrific crash and is having to have surgery,” she does her best to keep her voice low, it is her place of work after all, “and you’re right...I do think you’re a bad guy, because good guys don’t cheat on their wives!”

“We’re in a rough spot,” he hisses, “I was sure we were headed for divorce until just a few weeks ago...she was dating other people too.” 

“That doesn’t make it okay, Finn!” she retorts, “you didn’t _tell me_...and clearly things have changed.”

“We decided it was best for the kids sake--”

“ _Kids?!_ ” she’s pretty sure her composure is lost at this point, “you have kids and you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t necessarily think it was relevant,” he’s defensive now, “we’ve only been on one date.”

“Because you always bailed,” she’s quick, “look, none of that matters anyway...I just wanted to let you know that I’m pregnant--”

“Seriously?!” he’s indignant, “you’re telling me this now?” he waves his arms around to indicate their setting, “How long have you known?”

“I found out last night, doctor confirmed it this morning,” she shrugs, “so...congrats!”

“I can’t have another kid, Clarke,” he’s mean in his retort, “fix this.”

“I’m having this baby, with or without you...I just thought you’d like to know,” she steps back with a nod, “and Finn? I hope she’s okay.” Clarke barely makes it down to the next floor before she’s puking in the trashcan in the stairwell. 

**Again!? He’s growing frustrated with the sickness and whoever that asshole was that was making her stomach turn constantly, could fuck off. He knew it was his fault, he just knew it.**

She’s determined not to break down in the hospital where she works, so she beats a hasty retreat...she throws her coat and bag down as soon as she enters her apartment and then continues shedding shoes and layers as she heads back to her bed. She is going to hide out for the rest of the day...under her covers where no one will see her or know what she’s going through.

Three weeks later she has comfortably settled into her single-mom mindset. She has avoided Finn and she heard through Harper that Raven had been transferred to a physical therapy hospital in Brooklyn the week before and Murphy had introduced his new partner to them yesterday.

She had told Nyko last week and Harper much earlier than that. So the only people left for her to tell, were her Mom and Marcus. She’s not sure if she wants to relay the whole story to her or not, so the night before her next dinner with them she sits down to write a giant pro/con list and really think things through.

She is definitely going to be on her own with this baby so she has already started reorganizing her finances and she has never been so grateful for the trust fund from her grandmother that allowed her to not have student loan debt. She also knows that her mom will help out if she really needs it.

So far, she only has cons on her list for telling them about Finn. She knows her mom will also be harping on involving her uncle Theo, who has been their family lawyer for forever and she definitely doesn’t want to do that. And so she arrives at the conclusion to tell her mom that she chose artificial insemination. She briefly pauses to realize she might have to warn Dr. Jackson but he’s also been her doctor for awhile and abides by the law, never disclosing things to her mother.

With that decision made, she hastily puts together a rough timeline that will line up with her actual pregnancy. Even doing some quick research to double check her memory from her med school rotations.

Arriving at their condo the next night with a hastily wrapped package, she knocks briskly and then let’s herself in, “Hello, Clarke,” Marcus greets her first, taking her coat and bag to hang next to the front door. He ushers her toward the kitchen where she can hear her mom loudly laughing with a deep, male, booming laugh joining in.

“Oh!” she exclaims, swallowing the wine she just took a sip of, “Clarke, I’m so glad you’re here, I want you to meet Lincoln, he just started in our OccTherapy Unit.”

“Hi!” Clarke gives, what she is sure, an awkward wave, setting her gift on the counter to be dealt with later.

“Clarke is an ER Attending at Beth Israel,” Abby tells Lincoln brightly, “one of the youngest ever.”

“Mom,” Clarke groans, she sees this for what it is, her mother trying to set her up, but even still she’s never been entirely comfortable with the praise always being heaped on her, “it’s nice to meet you, Dr…”

“Not a doctor,” he shakes her hand, “and just Lincoln is fine.”

“Let’s eat,” Marcus claps to break the slight tension and Abby nods, handing him and Clarke wine glasses as Lincoln grabs a delicious looking dish from teh stove top.

“Oh Clarke--” Abby calls, having run back to the kitchen to grab something, “you brought a gift.”

“It’s fine,” Clarke rushes to grab it from her, before she can open it, “we can save it till your guest leaves.”

“I’m sure Lincoln won’t mind,” Abby waves her off, reaching for the package again, Lincoln nods his agreement, and pulls out the chair designated for Clarke, “what’s the occasion?”

“We should really wait,” Clarke urges, nervous. She definitely didn’t want to make this announcement in front of a random guy her mother was trying to set her up with, no matter how attractive he was.

“Now Clarke,” Abby’s dramatic sigh is her undoing and she releases the box to her Mother’s grip, bracing for impact.

“Before you say anything,” Clarke starts as Abby pulls the lid away from the box, “this was a planned decision and I am doing it alone.”

“Is this…?” Abby lifts the plain white onesie that declares, ‘My Grandma Spoils Me’ from the box, “explain!”

“After our conversations over the last few months, I realized you were right...so I decided to get artificially inseminated, baby will be here late June, early July,” Clarke shrugs, Abby gapes at her, “I want this Mom.”

“I think that’s great, Clarke,” Lincoln chimes in, trying to break the tense silence, “good for you to for what you want.”

“Thank you,” she acknowledges him, not just for the compliment but his help in trying to diffuse the situations, “really Mom, this is what you’ve been talking about...for what feels like forever now.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve never had _this_ conversation before,” Abby drops the cloth from her hands, “I’ve wanted you to find someone to be happy with, you’re just giving up?”

“I’m not giving up,” Clarke sighs, “I’m just doing some things out of a traditional order.”

“What’s so wrong with the traditional order? You’re only 30, there’s no rush to have a baby yet,” Abby grumbles, “if you were 34 or 35, I might understand--”

“It doesn’t matter Mom,” Clarke interrupts her, “this is happening, _now_ and it’s not going to change...so be happy or be miserable, But if you are going to be miserable, don’t be it around me.”

“Of course we’re happy Clarke,” Marcus finally speaks, “can’t wait to be grandparents, now let’s eat.”

“Yes, we’re being incredibly rude,” Abby acquiesces and then dinner commences in an awkward stilted fashion.

Clarke has the perfect excuse to make it an early night, so once dinner has finished she’s up and moving. Her mother does give her a hug as she’s leaving, promises her she loves her and to call when she gets home. Clarke nods and then Lincoln offers to walk her mom and Abby insists.

“I am so sorry about that,” Clarke implores as they exit the lobby, “and you really don’t have to walk me home.”

“It’s just a couple blocks, “he shrugs her off, “plus I feel like I should be the one apologizing...I did not see this for what it was , I’m just trying not to piss off my new bosses.”

“No one should suspect their boss of something like this, honestly,” Clarke sighs, “and thank you.”

“Of course,” he nods, “and to be honest I have a fiancé, so please don’t feel like I'm trying to pressure you to like me.”

“A. I wasn’t feeling that,” she laughs, “and B. that’s awesome...I don’t know if we’ll ever become more than awkward acquaintances, who were tried to/forced to go on a date, but if she’s anything like you...I’d love to meet her.”

“She’s not,” he laughs, “but she is looking to meet some new friends, since we moved to the city, we’ve only hung out with her brother and his random collection of women.”

“Sounds delightful,” Clarke groans, “Okay, give me your phone and I’ll program her number, I obviously have a busy job, but I’m sure we can meet for coffee or something.”

“Thanks Clarke,” he smiles softly as they stop in front of her building, “and congratulations, I can already tell you’ll be a wonderful mother.”

“Thanks, Lincoln.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! I can't believe I've actually managed to post for 25 straight days. I hoping to keep it up for six more days.

At 14 weeks pregnant, Clarke thanks her lucky stars that she works in an ER, and can easily tie scrubs around her burgeoning belly, it would not yield to jeans that morning. Jackson has weighed her in at six pounds gained, and it had taken everything in her not to cry in his office. She wasn’t even that upset by it, knew how important it was to gain weight for the baby, but her hormones apparently hadn’t gotten that memo.

She’d hung her most recent sonogram on the front of her locker in the lounge, figuring it was the easiest way to announce to everyone, and she’s received congratulations from the steady stream of staff that work in and around the ER. Her nausea and vomiting had mostly disappeared, easily replaced by a constant thirst for sweet fruit juices and an appetite for peanut butter, which she’d never had a particular liking for before. Most everyone steps in to help physically transfer patients, even though she and Nyko have assured them she is still more than capable of performing that particular task.

She’s even started texting back and for with Lincoln’s girlfriend, Octavia, several times. She and Harper were even planning to meet at a local coffee shop later that day. Clarke was in desperate need of new clothes and she wanted a second opinion. She wasn’t keen on taking her mother with her, and most of the women she worked with were either older or didn’t seem to have any sense of style.

“Octavia?” Clarke questions as the two blondes step into the warm, bustling cafe. It’s easy to spot the athletic brunette, she’s curled up in an oversized chair, looking like she’s been there a while. She has several cups in front of her and she’s more than halfway through a pretty thick looking novel. Clarke knows she has the right woman, as she now follows her on three separate social media platforms, but it never hurts to double check, especially in a city the size of New York.

“Clarke! Hi!” Octavia is overly enthusiastic in her greeting, and Clarke is suddenly wary of spending a whole afternoon with the woman, she’s quickly pulled into a hug, “it’s so great the finally meet you in person.”

“You too,” Clarke steels herself and let’s the enthusiasm be contagious, at least for now, “this is Harper, she’s a nurse in my ER.”

“Hi!” Harper grins, and Octavia hugs her too, and Clarke feels that Harper’s greeting comes from a much more genuine, excited place.

“Sorry, I’m not usually a hugger, but it’s just been so long since I’ve hung out with anyone other than my fiance and my brother,” she’s grinning again, and Clarke decides she can forgive her then, because as nice as Lincoln was she can only imagine that hanging out with just two dudes for any significant amount of time would drive and woman crazy.

“No problem,” Clarke assures her easily, “let us grab drinks and then we can go.”

“Oh!” Octavia turns back to her chair, “I got you a peppermint tea and Harper a latte, I hope that’s okay? They should still be warm.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Harper coos, taking the drink and sipping generously, “but I will take it, thank you.”

“Of course,” Octavia nods, “so what are we thinking clothes wise.”

“Bras first,” Harper commands, and Clarke can feel her neck heating up, she didn’t think it was that obvious that she was literally squeezing into them each morning. She really should have gotten new ones weeks ago, but she was _busy_ and she honestly didn’t want to even think about how big her breasts had gotten, as someone who had always been on the more generous end of that spectrum, “you cannot possibly be comfortable like that.”

“Thanks, Harp,” Clarke plays it off sarcastically, and she notices that Octavia is now staring at her boobs, she does her best not to immediately cross her arms in front of her, “but you are correct. Then I'm thinking a couple pairs of jeans...I wear scrubs a lot at work, and then a bunch of long sleeves that I can wear with them. We can do another shopping trip in March or April when the temperatures start changing and I get a lot bigger.”

Their trip is surprisingly successful, she comes away with what she was looking for and more, including a cute dress, she’s not sure she’ll ever wear, a coat that she hadn’t thought she’d need, and some of the most comfortable bras she’s ever owned. Clarke feels like she and Octavia could be good friends, too, which was the main goal of the afternoon after shopping, of course.

At her 18 weeks appointment she has prepared herself for the number on the scale and grins at the nurse when she informs her she is half a pound lighter than Clarke had been expecting. 

“Hi Clarke,” Jackson greets jovially, joining her, “your vitals are excellent. Do you have any questions?”

“Not really,” she shrugs, “I’ve had a few very weird dreams...but I’m told that’s normal, sexy ones too.”

“Also normal,” he assures, “as you know with the increased hormones and blood flow, everything is moving just a bit faster...I always recommend safety first, of course, but there is absolutely no reason you can’t do something about those dreams,” he winks playfully at her, if she didn’t know for a fact the man was gay, she’d think he was hitting on her. He directs her to lay back with a pat to the table behind her, “any new cravings?”

“Other than wanting a salty sweet mix all the time?” Clarke laughs, “It’s been all good,” he measures her belly and smiles at what he sees marking it quickly on his tablet.

“Growth is right on track for 18 weeks. Have you felt the baby moving around? You’re right around the time that most women report feeling the baby move for the first time.”

“A couple of butterfly flappy feelings,” she reports, “I wasn’t sure if that was the baby, or just some kind of nerves, but I haven’t felt anything I can definitively say was the baby.”

“That was probably them,” he agrees, “Go ahead and lift up your shirt mama, and let’s see what we’ve got?” Clarke tucks her shirt easily under her breasts, and shifts her leggings down to rest underneath the bump, “are we going to find out the sex today?”

“Fingers crossed,” Clarke nods, she sincerely hopes so.

**Woah! That was a shock, he wiggles away from the probing from above, and intense beat filling his space, and then he wiggles some more trying to find that nice comfy spot from before. He’d really been enjoying that nap.**

**He quickly get’s that hand back into his mouth and wonders once again what she’s supposed to do with the new one growing between his legs.**

“Look at that,” Clarke sighs, dreamily seeing the baby on the screen, “is he sucking his thumb?”

“Yes,” Jackson smiles, glancing up at her, “and good guessing there Mom, we do in fact have a baby boy.”

“Amazing,” Clarke continues to watch the screen, trying to wrap her mind around the picture being of her insides, “he’s really moving around in there.”

“Is that what you’ve been feeling?” Jackson asks, and now that Clarke pauses and focuses on it, yes, that sensation she’s currently feeling from low in her gut does appear to match up with what she is seeing on screen.

By 20 weeks, the halfway point, she is confident that she looks pregnant from every angle, and she, Harper, and Octavia celebrate by getting mani/pedis and then doing some actual baby shopping. Clarke is very wary of buying too many gender specific clothes, but she knows she’s going to need a lot of clothes to bring this baby home to. 

“I know, I know,” Octavia sighs as she holds up a tiny, adorable onesie all decked out in anchors and sailor bears, “but how is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?” 

“I’m not saying no gendered outfits at all,” Clarke rolls her eyes good-naturedly at her friend, “and yes it is very cute...just not all gendered outfits okay?”

“Gotcha, I’m buying this one though,” she laughs, and Clarke agrees as she moves through the racks and racks _and_ racks of tiny baby clothes. She does give pause at a tiny t-shirt proclaiming ‘Daddy’s Mini-me’ and she can’t help but to tear up when she feels the baby move, it’s like he knows she’s wallowing in her own self-pity. Rubbing a hand against her bump, she’s scared the baby already knows she’s failed him in this way, knowing that he won’t have a relationship with his father. As much as it sucks that her Dad died when she was a teenager, she was lucky and so blessed that he was in her life for the time that he was. Her son not having that same bond, breaks her heart.

“Hey Clarke,” Harper sidles up next to her to see what she’s looking at, “you’re both better off without him.” She’s quick to remind her friend, gently, “plus, this one is way cuter,” she shows her a different shirt, this one proudly stating ‘Mama’s Boy’.

Clarke smiles at her friend and agrees to let her buy the shirt, “okay, everything else needs to be neutral,” Clarke proclaims, spying two more blue onesies in Octavia’s grapes. They do minimal damage to her bank account as she walks away feeling like she’s actually accomplished something towards bringing her baby home.

It’s later that week that Finn returns to work. Clarke hears via Harper who relays the information from Murphy that Raven has made it back home and would be partially paralyzed, permanently. As if Clarke doesn’t feel guilty enough, for being the other woman, she now has the added benefit of Finn’s wife being hurt to add to it. Thankfully, though, Finn seems to be avoiding her and Nyko was assigning his cases to the residents, letting Clarke come into the patient’s care later on to oversee their work. Finn had done a double-take the first time he’d seen the bump, but other than that brief, what Clarke was sure was longing, look he hadn’t even tried to approach her.

Having acquired new friends, she knows exactly who to call when she opens her apartment door one Tuesday in mid-March to see several large boxes stacked up in front. Her mom has come around completely and completely embraced being a grandma. She and Marcus have purchased all the furniture for the nursery, but she’d clearly forgot to give her a warning of when it would be arriving. She does her best to push it all into her apartment, but she leaves it there until she convinces the others to come help her move and set it up.

It turns into the girls drinking beers, Clarke sipping on apple juice, and Lincoln and Monty, Harper’s new boyfriend, doing all the hard work. “Are you sure I can’t help?” Clarke fidgets, looking for the screwdriver Lincoln needs, her eyes scanning the piles of furniture pieces, plastic wrap, and cardboard, “it’s behind you,” she spots the glint of metal in the pile of trash directly behind him.

“Let the men work Clarke,” Octavia laughs, “and enjoy the eye-candy,” she nods at Lincoln and he needlessly flexes his biceps, “you already bought all the beer and ordered dinner, you’ve paid for their service.”

“And what is she paying you for?” Monty quips with a nod to her beer, “heckling the help?”

“The use of our men,” Harper retorts, and Monty turns back to the camera he’s installing after poking his tongue out at her.

“We should have made Bell come with us,” Octavia lays her head against Clarke’s shoulder, “he’s so good at this stuff.”

“He’s on a date O,” Lincoln laughs.

“Please, he’s hooking up with that gross bartender again, I’d hardly call that a date.”

“They were going to the museum,” Lincoln snorts again, “You’re going to have to accept the fact that he actually likes this one.”

“Well, I don’t like her,” O pouts, “he should date Clarke!”

“Okay, I’m cutting you off, until you’ve had some food,” he takes the beer from her hands, downing what’s left quickly, glancing in apology to Clarke, “come help me put the swing together and then the food should be here.”

Successfully completing the nursery has her feeling even better about everything. Then at 24 weeks she was the only attending on call when Finn brings in a firefighter, burned severely. Firefighters are notoriously big dudes and Finn had moved her out of the way to help transfer the patient to the trauma bed. It took nearly an hour in the trauma room before he’d been stabilized and then sent off to the burn unit. And Finn is waiting for her in the lounge. He’s intently studying the sonogram photos tacked to her locker, Harper and the other nurses had come along and added ‘it’s a boy!’ magnets and decorations, “it’s a boy?”

“That’s what it says,” she bites out, crossing her arms above the bump, “what are you still doing here Finn?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” he reaches to touch the first sonogram photo, and Clarke slaps his hand away before he can make contact, “Raven and I are over, for good this time, I think.”

“ _You think?_ ” Clarke growls, “she’s your wife Finn, she was injured in a horrific crash and now you’re leaving her, the mother of your children.”

“ _You’re_ the mother of my child!” he bursts out, frustrated it would seem.

“No!” she retorts, “I’m not! You made sure of that Finn, you can’t flip-flop like this.”

“I’m ready to step up for this,” he calms his voice, hands held in front of him in surrender, “I want to be there for my son.”

“Finn…” she trails off, she can’t help it, he’s the baby’s father and his eyes are pleading. She softens and drops her arms, praying that she doesn’t end up regretting her next decision, “you can’t turn us away again, you _have_ to be all in.”

“I promise,” he pleads, and then gently, tentatively, places a hand against her belly, “he’s active.”

“All the time,” she agrees, “he loves when I eat spicy foods.”

**Nobody loves that stuff!**

Finn laughs, then looks up at her again, “can I kiss you?” and Clarke knows she’s going to regret it, but she can’t stop herself and initiates the kiss first.

He’s a model boyfriend after that, he shows up at the end of her late night shifts, walks her home. He takes her out to dinner twice and dotes on her and the baby. The sex is still mediocre, but she at least is getting orgasms out of if now, thanks to her influx of hormones. 

Then after her 30 week appointment he gifts her with a key to his brand new apartment. He doesn’t ask her to move in, but he wants her to have unlimited access to his place. And he has bedrooms, for his older kids, but also a nursery set up for the baby. He wants her to feel comfortable with the idea of the baby possibly staying at his place on occasion. 

Finally, she feels like things may be moving in the right direction.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we kinda sorta meet Bellamy this chapter. Also, this was always one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie, but it's not one that holds up today's standards, so I tried to make it more appropriate for the times we currently live in.
> 
> Also, this makes 26 days in a row that I've posted!

Clarke does her absolute best to keep the pieces of her life separate, but she can’t keep Finn away from Harper so the other woman knows that she is seeing her baby’s father again. She has sworn her to absolute secrecy from everyone else though, not that it really matters, but if Octavia knew then she’d tell Lincoln and through his work it could inadvertently get back to her mom and she absolutely does not need her to find out. About her dating Finn or the fact that her baby’s father is anything more than an anonymous donor. She does manage to keep it all from her mother though and Finn keeps her distanced from the other parts of his life as well. She does learn that he has two daughters from his marriage to Raven and that he’s spending more time than ever with them because of the accident and subsequent divorce.

She doesn’t think much of his always running off, he’s more transparent about his disappearances now, either having to rush off to pick up one of his kids or getting an emergency call from the station. Even though Harper is constantly reminding her of his shadiness, she does her best to believe and trust him, when they are together he dotes on her, on their baby boy, he’s seemingly smitten and she can’t help but to believe he’s truly in this with her. He doesn’t go to her appointments but he does set the latest sonogram images as his phone’s background. He buys tons of diapers, tells her how they’d run out several times the first time they were parents.

She feels as if things are too good to be true, he doesn’t push for more than she’s willing to give and he stops talking about the similarities and differences between her and Raven’s pregnancies when she asks. She doesn’t think he means anything by it, but he made several off-hand comments early on after she’d forgiven him, that made her feel supremely inadequate next to the way Raven had been in her pregnancies.

“Alright ladies, I need a killer dress, Dr. Griffin invited us to this fundraiser and we need to look like we belong,” Octavia announces as they enter yet another designer shop on fifth avenue. They’d taken a cab south to shop, Clarke didn’t think Octavia really needed the help, she just wanted a reason to get away...and she knew that Clarke had first-hand knowledge of what these events were like.

“You’ll fit in fine,” Harper assured, “the real question is what are _you_ wearing to this shindig?”

“I am not going,” Clarke rubs a hand against her belly, “perks of being nearly 36 weeks pregnant...I get a free pass for pretty much anything and everything these days.”

“Yet you’re still going on dates with Finn,” Harper reminds her, quietly, she’s done a lot to abide by Clarke’s wishes to keep things from their new friends, and Clarke rolls her eyes, grabbing a cocktail dress off the rack, holding it up against her front, studying her reflection.

“I sit on the couch, while he cooks, _and_ cleans,” Clarke grumbles, “I would need three of these to cover me.”

“It’s not even your color, Octavia should try it though,” Harper takes it, passing it off to the other girl, “and that is honestly the _least_ Finn could do.”

“Okay, I’m going to try these,” Ocataiva announces and Clarke sighs gratefully sinking into the plush chair outside the changing room.

When she comes out in the first dress, she’s laughing joyously and glancing furtively back behind her, “there is definitely a couple having sex in there,” she whispers, “and it doesn’t sound like he’s pulling his own weight.”

“What’s wrong with people?” Harper snorts, “whatever happened to good old fashioned bedroom sex?”

Clarke and Octavia share a look before laughing at her, “Nothing wrong with a change in venue,” Clarke smirks, “spice things up a little.”

“But don’t let him be bad at it,” Octavia gives a pointed look and Clarke can only nod and avert her gaze and when she does, she makes direct eye contact with the guy trying to sneak out of the dressing room, and she freezes.

“Unbelieveale,” Harper mutters.

“What?” Octavia questions, and Clarke is up and moving out of the store without a word, quite a feat considering her normal pace these days.

“Clarke!” Finn calls, giving chase and she can hear Harper and Octavia following as well, “Clarke, let me explain.”

“There is nothing for you to explain Finn,” Clarke seeths, finally turning to him, “I never should have let you sweet talk your way back into this.”

“Finn? What’s going on?” A young, ditzy sounding blonde has apparently followed them out of the store as well.

“I’m going to need these dresses back in the story, ladies,” A clerk interrupts the confrontation now happening on the sidewalk, “or I’m going to have to call the police.” Octavia ensures that Harper has Clarke’s back before rushing back inside to change back into her own clothes.

“Clarke,” Finn sighs, “I’ve been going to therapy with Raven and the girls...my doctor feels that I need to take this time for myself, to grow and be on my own, I raised my children and--”

“They’re seven and four, Finn,” she hisses, “you know what? It doesn't matter...we are done--don’t worry about raising this baby.”

**Yeah! We don’t need you anyway!**

Octavia and the blonde have returned as Clarke starts walking away. She isn’t immediately joined by Harper and Octavia so she assumes they are keeping Finn from following after her. She makes it two blocks before she starts to feel crampy and then suddenly she’s not just crampy, but full on, crumbling with a pain much more severe.

**’Whoa! What was that?’ It’s restricting, more than he’s grown used to lately and he doesn’t think it’s anything good. Especially when he hears her groan.**

She collects herself as the pain eases, realizes she is too many blocks away to make it to the hospital on her own. There are several cabs and she quickly waves one down, only for an asshole in a suit to slide in as she reaches for the door, “Asshole!” she yells after the cab as it pulls away from the curb. Lucky for her, another one slides right in it’s recently vacated spot, and she drops into it, thankful, “Mercy East.”

The driver, his mirrored aviators reflecting her image back to her, turns to look at her as she grimaces and clutches her belly again, “are you in labor?”

“Ummhmm,” she moans with a nod.

“Beth Israel is closer,” he announces pulling away from the curb, directing the cab in that direction. Clarke absolutely does not want to go to her place of employment, to deliver her son.

“Mercy East is where my doctor is,” she fires back, “first labors can last for hours.”

“So can Midtown traffic,” he retorts, but slings the car back around to head in the direction she requested, it sends her sliding across the back seat and she braces herself before she can slam into the opposite door.

“Are you crazy?” she shrieks.

“I’m trying to get you where you want to go,” he sighs, gunning it as the light they’re approaching changes to red.

“Let’s get there _alive_ , please,” she grouses then groans again, “I’d like my baby to be born without brain damage.”

“Have you called your husband?” he asks, as they bounce down a poorly paved road.

“I’m not married,” she grumbles, she’s holding on to the handle above the door, which helps her to shift as the pain seems to ripple across her lower abdomen.

“Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Life partner?” he tries again.

“If you must know, I was artificially inseminated,” she spouts, having grown quite accustomed to telling the lie at this point.

“Respect,” he nods, and she believes that he truly means it, “aren’t you supposed to breathe through those?” he asks, when he notices she’s holding her breath.

“What do you know about it?” she snarls, feeling the pain intensify again.

“I helped my mom deliver my sister,” she gives him a lok, but he waves it off, slinging them around another corner.

“Pull up there,” she points, when the hospital finally comes into view. She feels like she’s ridden the world's longest roller coaster in order to get here.

“It says drop off only,” he grumbles and slides the cab into a parallel spot instead.

“You are dropping off,” she’s quickly out of the car, slamming the door and stumbling as she finally stands. She doesn’t take two whole steps towards the hospital before crumpling, she’s sure she is going down, she’s saved by strong hands though, wrapping around her arms and keeping up upright, “don’t touch me,” she shakes him off, once she feels the contraction recede.

“Calm down, princess,” he follows her into the ER, stands back while she talks to the nurse, he’s scared she’s going to crumble again.

“We need your insurance and ID,” the nurse is telling her when she feels it again, adn the cab driver lays into the woman behind the front desk.

“Are you kidding?” he shouts, “she’s clearly in pain.”

“We’ve got to get her upstairs,” a different nurse announces as they settle her into a wheelchair.

And then she’s off. The pain gets progressively worse and she’s regretting not calling her mom earlier., and when she goes to grab her phone, she can’t find it anywhere, and her brain is not allowing her to focus to try and remember the last time she actually had it. So she asks a passing nurse to page her, thankful that Dr. Jackson works out of the same hospital her mom works for.

There is so much chaos surrounding her, people coming and going in and out of her room, and she vaguely remembers begging for an epidural. An absolute angel of an orderly bodily drags a nurse in to call the anesthesiologist to make sure that she gets it.

Before she really knows it, she is being handed a screaming baby and she’s crying too. That same orderly, having held her hand through it all and she turners to see the absolute wonder on his face.

It’s all a blur once again as they take the baby away to be cleaned and checked. It’s not until hours later she realizes she never saw her mom and her new favorite orderly had disappeared on her at some point as well.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we finally have Bellamy!

Bellamy picked up the cab driver job shortly after moving to the city. He’d gotten the curator job easily, and he loved it, but it didn’t allow him to live on his own. He wasn’t exactly keen on living with his baby sister and her fiance, but he was also done with the roommate life so he’d picked up the taxi job. It wasn’t difficult, he’d already had a driver’s license and the test hadn’t exactly been the hardest one he’d taken in his lifetime. 

Several people had raised an eyebrow at him, questioning why he would choose to work for the TLC vs. Uber or any of the other rideshare apps, but he figured it gave him more flexibility to be able to just pick up people on the street. He’d heard horror stories of women in labor but in the six months he’d been doing the job, he hadn’t even picked up a visibly pregnant woman, much less one in labor.

He’s making his usual Midtown pass through when he sees a cab pull away from a heavily pregnant woman, who’s visibly shouting something as it drives off. So he slips the small SUV quickly in front of her. And then gapes when she breathlessly asks for an upper east side hospital, and heads for the closer, Beth Israel.

She’s adamant though and so he pulls a quick u-ie. He does realize that he’s not exactly obeying traffic laws, but he doesn’t think many would actually blam him, no one wants a baby born in the back of their cab.

He ignores her demand for a drop off and does his best to respect her wishes as he shadows her into the ER. After the nurse wheels her away the woman behind the desk looks at him questioningly, “her insurance and ID?”

“I’m just the cab driver,” he raises his hands in innocence, and an orderly grabs his arm, tugging on it with a direction to follow him. It’s when he places scrubs into his chest that he once again reiterates that he is just the cab driver. The man gives him a withering look that suggests he’s heard similar things before and then ushers him along.

He pulls on the scrubs and follows him to a room. He remembers the woman saying she didn’t have a partner, and he knows if Octavia were in a similar position he wouldn’t want her to be alone, but he also does not know this woman. He figures he’ll just show up and when she sees him she’ll demand that he leave, and he can bow out gracefully. What he doesn’t consider is that she’ll barely acknowledge his presence.

“Please,” the woman pleads with the nurse, “when can i get an epidural?” When the nurse just gives her a concillary pat on the arm, Bellamy growls lowly and gives what Octavia has always called his ‘menacing older brother’ look. He figures this woman doesn’t have anyone else with her interests at heart so he sticks around and makes sure she gets whatever she asks for.

He fetches ice chips, rubs at her back when she asks, and the nurse shows him how, and then holds her hand, “Okay, Dad,” the doctor finally arrives, “we’re going to need you to help hold Mom’s leg back.” And then he’s gripping this stanger’s thigh and helping fold her in half as she pushes another human being out of her body.

**’Hey that’s new,’ he observes as a new light pierces his cozy home. He likes the darkness, he’s grown used to it and it’s very easy to sleep, but he’s been getting more and more cramped for days. It’s been worse today, as his home has been contracting steadily around him.**

**Before he knows it, he’s being forcibly evacuated and suddenly everything is bright and cold, and he’s being held tightly, but it’s not the all-encompassing hold he’s used to. ‘Put me back in, put me back in,’ he demands, but nobody's listening and then something is forcibly shoved down his throat and they are rubbing at his eyes.**

**And then finally someone starts to listen and he’s wrapped up all nice and tight and snug, before they place him against a soft body**

Bellamy does not cut the cord when they offer it up to him, but he does watch closely as they clean up the screaming newborn. He’s clearly unhappy with the day he’s had, and Bellamy can’t really say that he blames him for being mad. He doesn’t imagine it’s an overwhelmingly fun experience, being born.

“So, you’re the one that’s been kicking me?” The woman asks when they place the clean and blanket wrapped baby into her arms.

**’You’re the one that ate all that spice food,’ he retorts.**

“Welcome to the world Jacob Elias Griffin,” she murmurs.

Bellamy feels like he’s intruding but he also feels like it would be super obvious if he left now. These people clearly think he’s the baby’s father, so he hangs out watching mother and son, until a nurse takes baby Jacob, he now knows, and urges him to follow to the nursery.

He’s instructed to wait outside the large windows, while the nurse goes in and gets the baby settled. He chooses that moment to slip away, stripping off the scrubs and depositing them in a trash bin on his way back to the cab.

He’s been in the hospital almost eight hours and when he gets back to his car, he’s got four different parking tickets as well as ten missed calls from his sister. He calls her back as he navigates away from the upper east side hospital, “hey O, what’s up?”

“Where have you been?” she asks immediately and he can hear an anxiousness in her voice, “I can’t get ahold of you, I can’t get ahold of Clarke…”

“Your pregnant friend and went on a blind date with Lincoln?” he pokes just to be an annoying older brother. He doesn't know a ton, but he does know that Octavia has overheard some things about a shitty baby daddy.

“Yeah, haha,” she grumbles, “seriously though, we were out shopping for that fundraiser her mom invited us to, and some guy was having sex in the dressing room with his girlfirend, and I thik it was the kids’ dad,” she sighs, “she walked away, but Harper and I stayed to keep him from going after her.”

“O,” It’s a reprimand he has no right to give, because he would do the same thing in her place.

“I know...but trust me I could’ve taken the guy, I should’ve made Harper go with her.”

“Well I’m glad you stayed together,” he argues, “have you called the hospitals?”

“Working on it now, but they aren’t exactly forthcoming with information...patient confidentiality and all that,” she’s clearly ticked off, but he hopes it’s more worry than rage.

“Lincoln and Harper both work for hospitals, they can’t get through the red tape?” He’s already crossing the bridge to Brooklyn, heading home.

“They’re working on it,” she sighs again, “anyway, where have you been?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if i told you,” he laughs, and then he hears a ringtone from the backseat. “Let me know if you need any help...I’ll talk to you later okay?”

He parks in the assigned spot for his apartment and jumps out to open the back door. He finds a small purse and cell phone, right there on the seat. He knows he won’t be able to access her phone, so he looks through the wallet for an ID. Her license is in a window slot and he sees the name Clarke Griffin and shakes his head reaching for his own phone again.

About to hit send on O’s name, when it vibrates with a text notification, it simply reads ‘found her!’ So he pockets his phone and her’s, snapping the wallet closed, grabs it and her purse before heading inside. He grabs his mail before making the four floor climb to his tiny one bedroom.

He pops a microwave dinner to warm, before flipping through his stack of mail. His heart freezes when he comes across a letter with the ‘Happy Hills Elderly Living’ logo. They’d hated to leave Grandpa Bellamy in Virginia when they’d left, but his fees had been paid, and he’d urged them to go.

Ripping open the envelope, he couldn’t do anything but cuss, “fuck.” It’s a letter letting him know that their facility is no longer financially sustainable and will be closing in 6 months. So Bellamy ends up spending his evening googling nursing homes and elderly living centers to try and find a place that will not only take him, but also has a decent reputation.

The good places, he’s able to find are all great, and all have one glaring qualification. Their addresses, both his and O’s are too far from the Upper East Side to qualify. His phone chimes again with a text and he gras it quickly to see a text from Octavia, it’s a picture, it’s her and Lincoln and bundled up in Octavia’s arms is little Jacob Elias Griffin, ‘I know you don’t know Clarke, but she had her baby!’

“Tell her I said ‘Congrats!’” he returns, and then he sees her wallet sitting innocently on his countertop. His brain starts turning...he knows it’s immoral, and probably illegale, but he’s got an idea and he thinks things might turn out okay.


	7. Chapter 7

It’s not long after they take Jacob away that her Mom shows up, carrying the baby. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” Abby pushes her daughters hair back after placing Jacob in her arms, “why didn’t you call?”

“It’s a long story, Mom, but I honestly don’t know where my phone is at the moment,” Clarke sighs, and then leans into her mom’s comforting embrace as Abby settles next to her on the hospital bed.

“Well regardless, Jackson said you were amazing and you have a beautiful baby boy,” Abby gazes proudly at her grandson, “he’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Clarke agrees, and tries to ignore how she can pick out the exact shade of Finn’s hair and shape of his nose, “did you see his name?”

“He’s still listed as baby boy Griffin,” Abby shakes her head.

“Jacob Elias Griffin,” Clarke is a little apprehensive that her mom won’t like it...but her eyes immediately fill with tears and absolute love and Clarke knows she made the right call, “think that’s okay?”

“Oh Clarke--” She cuts herself off to breathe deeply, “he would’ve loved it...and him.”

“Good,” she nods, decisively. Here friends show up not long after and they are worried, but she’s quick to tell them, she’s done fine. That she has a beautiful baby boy, and as Octavia and Lincoln coo over him Harper settles where Abby vacated, and leans in to whisper if she’s really okay.

“I’m fine,” she promises again, “completely done with Finn. From now on it’s just me and Jake.”

“Good,” Harper hugs her tightly and then immediately jumps up, “alright back off Octavia, let me get my hands on that cute baby boy.”

A nurse comes by to shoo them all away at the end of visiting hours and then it’s just her and Jake. He’s sleeping soundly against her thighs and she makes him a solemn promise then and there, “I know I screwed up the whole ‘dad’ thing for you. And I know that we can survive, just the two of us...I will always be there for you, forever, no matter what. But I want you to know that I’m not giving up on finding you another parent. It may not be a dad, but whomever it is...I promise they are going to be the best and they are absolutely going to love you.”

Clarke and Jake are sent home two days later, she’s still clueless about where her phone is, but figures she can sort it out with her laptop and the internet once she gets home. Abby and Marcus actually _drive_ them home and Abby is adamant about staying the first night so that Clarke can truly get some rest before being on her own. But when Clarke and Jake are finally alone she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She needs this time to feel like she can get established as a single mom, and set up a routine for the baby that will hopefully have her feeling confident to go back to work in less than 8 weeks.

**’These hands are still here,’ he marvels, squeezing at air, maybe it’s not so bad being outside in this world.**

“Hey sweetface,” she coos, he’s working his hands repeatedly at thin air, and she can’t help but to marvel at this amazing little being she created. He’s perched on the closed toilet seat lid in his carrier seat, and she’s about to attempt a shower, without someone there to watch him.

“Oh good lord,” she glances up at herself in the bathroom mirror. She’s five days post-partum and it’s the first time she’s really seen her own reflection since giving birth. She had felt how heavy her breasts were, but as she turns to the side, she swears they’ve more than doubled in size since she’s given birth. Her belly has more or less flattened, and so she strikes quiet the image with her ballooning breasts, “you better appreciate this,” she mockingly threatens baby jake.

Before she can contemplate her looks any further, her doorbell rings. It’s unusual for her to not recieve a call from teh doorman first so she assumes it’s either a friend of her mom. No sooner does she open the door, does she close it again, before pulling it open a second time shyly, “Hi,” she sighs reluctantly, recognizing the ridiculous aviators the cab driver had worn several days ago. She’d never gotten around to paying him for the ride to the hospital.

“Hi,” he smirks, it should be smarmy but it’s actually quite charming, he motions past her and she swings the door further to let him in, “hey little dude.”

**’Hey man!’**

“I know I never paid you,” she sighs, and turns to the cookie jar hidden on top of the fridge, with emergency cash, she pulls out a $50, figuring she owes him that much, “I have no idea what happened to my wallet.”

“It’s cool,” he promises, and reaches to take the bill from her before she snatches it back quickly, a light bulb going off.

“How did you know where I live?” she questions.

“You left this in the cab,” he produces her small clutch purse and phone from under his arm.

“Thank you,” she sighs, and trads him the bill, “I really wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with all of this.”

“No problem,” he nods, and Clarke feels like he is probably a really great guy. How many cab drivers would go out of their way to make sure such important property made it back to its rightful owner.

“And I’m sorry too,” she continues, “we obviously didn’t meet on my best day.”

“I mean, you did hit me pretty hard with your elbow--”

“You try squeezing something the size of a watermelon through a hole the size of a lemon,” she cuts off his joking tone, and he winces at the mere notion.

“You look great by the way,” he smirks, eyes roving over her figure briefly.

“I’ve been wearing the same clothes for two days now,” she rolls her eyes.

“I know you don’t actually know me, but I did bring your wallet back…” he trails off, cautious, “Do you want me to watch him, while you shower and change?”

She waffles briefly at the idea, but ultimately settles on, “I don’t even know your name.”

“You do actually, Bellamy Blake, I believe you’ve become quite good friends with my sister.”

“Well, that’s not promising,” she laughs, surely Octavia couldn’t have said anything too bad about him. “I’ve heard all about your women,” she continues at the incredulous look he sends her. 

“I’ve been dating Echo for almost three months,” he grumbles defensively. He, admittedly, doesn’t have the best track record of being a good boyfriend but he’s not awful.

“If you’re sure you don’t mind?” Clarke nods at Jake, she also has heard how great a big brother he is, and how he gave up a lot to help raise Octavia, “just don’t take him out of his seat, okay?”

“You got it,”he winks, once she’s gone he turns back to Jake, “she’s a little high strung.”

**Tell me about it, she keeps making me go to sleep.**

“How do you like the world so far?” Bellamy asks him, digging into the bag of food, he’s carried up with him.

**Not bad, eat when I want...get lots of snuggles.**

“You’ve got some pretty nice digs around here,” Bellamy glances around, counts at least two bedrooms and with no roommate, he figures she makes plenty of money, “Think she’ll be mad at me for what I’m about to do?”

**You’re on your own man**

“Okay, first coffee lesson,” Bellamy sighs, knowing the newborn is not actually going to answer him, “Black coffee is gross, always order cream and sugar,” he looks back in his bag, “which they have forgotten to give me,” he swipes the bottle off the table, knowing it’s not real milk, banking on it being formula, “you don’t mind if I borrow some of yours?”

**Go for it**

No sooner does he take a sip from the cup does a voice call otu, “you know that’s breastmilk?”

Bellamy does a decent spit take turning to look back at the baby, “why didn’t you tell me?”

**I told you, you were on your own.**

“Okay then, I’m going to take my breakfast and my breastmilk and go,” Bellamy laughs, gathering up his stuff, “now that we know each other, I assume I’ll see you around?”

“Okay,” Clakre nods, “and Bellamy? Thank you...again.”

“Of course,” he smiles. He grumbles at himself as he leaves, having scoped out the mail situation, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to swipe it from her box, which means he’ll have to get closer to her.

He settles into his cab, lights off and eats his breakfast. He contemplates throwing out his coffee, but shrugs it off, it hasn't tasted bad and he can’t really afford to throw it away or to buy more.

“He’s a good guy, huh?” Clarke asks Jake as she settles him to nurse, shortly after Bellamy leaves, “We’ll let Octavia invite him around more, okay?”

She gets them into an easy routine quick enough. Clarke even manages to get the two of them out of the apartment and visit the park a couple times a week. Her return to work creeps up on her faster than she thought, but she transitions into that pretty easily as well.


	8. Chapter 8

Clarke will admit that she becomes a bit of a hermit after Jake is born. She goes to work four times a week and she and Jake have been to her Mom and Marcus’s twice for family dinner, but other that by the time Jake is four months old, she hasn’t really been out without him. So she is surprised when her mom lets herself into her apartment around six one Friday evening.

“Hello, my little love bug,” Abby coos sweetly at Jake, reaching over the back of the couch to take him from Clarke’s arms.

**Hey! It’s that Grandma lady again!**

“Hello to you too Mom,”Clarke grumbles, getting up to join her as Abby moves into Clarke’s bedroom, “what are you doing here?”

“Babysitting,” she smirks, throwing some clothes on the bed, “Lincoln said Octavia’s Bachelorette party is tonight, and that she was disappointed when you said you couldn’t get a sitter...so sitter is here.”

“Mom,” Clarke sighs, “I don’t--” she’s ashamed to admit she didn’t even try to get a sitter, but she hasn’t exactly felt up to going out with her friends, anyway.

“You _are_ going,” Abby bounces Jake on her hip, “and besides it’s about time I have some alone time with my grandson.”

She grumbles about it, but quickly realizes her mom is not going to back down. She texts Harper to ask where they are and she replies that Octavia is sending Bellamy to pick her up. She hasn’t seen him since he returned her stuff, and she can admit that she doesn’t know why that seems to bother her.

He’s waiting in front of her building by the time she exits her lobby, it hadn’t taken that long for her to get dressed but she will admit it might have taken her an extra few minutes to say goodbye to Jake. Bellamy grinned broadly when he caught sight of her as she stepped out, “hey Princess.” Clarke pointedly rolls her eyes at him and moves to get in the back seat, but he stops her with a hand on her arm, “Uh huh, in the front, I don’t chaufer free loaders.”

“I can pay,” Clarke argues and she does feel bad that he drove all the way to the upper east side to get her.

“I don’t charge friends,” he smirks, “plus I’m off duty.”

“Thanks,” she nods and climbs in the front, “sorry, I imagine you’d much rather be making money right now.”

“It’s actually my night off,” he smirks, and she can’t help but notice that he is in fact wearing a nicer button down with his dark wash jeans.

“Well then I’m sorry you have to work on your night off then,” she apologizes again.

“I was heading to the party anyway,” he laughs, “it may not surprise you to find out that those two can’t have seperate Bachelor/Bachelorette parties.”

“No, you’re right, that doesn't shock me,” she giggles, “so all I really know about you is what Octavia has told me.”

“That’s dangerous, I know she’s told you about my string of girlfriends, but that isn’t what I’m all about.”

“She also told me how great of a guy you are,” she disagrees, with a soft smile.

“Well, I hope she’s been honest, so what is it that you want to know?” he asks.

“Well, I know that Octavia moved here when Lincoln got his job, but why did you?”

“I actually had a job here first,” he smirks at her, “this job just allows me to have my own place...I’m an assistant curator at the Natural History Museum.”

“No way,” she smiles, “like the real big one on the other side of the park?” she motions towards the upper west side, and he nods, “that’s awesome.”

“Yeah, I just wish it paid more,” he agrees, and they continue to chat about odds and ends, until they pull up in front of a bar called ‘Dropship’ in Brooklyn.

Clarke adjusts her shirt as she steps out of the cab, ensuring it does a decent job of hugging the appropriate curves, she hasn’t really been out since Jake was born, and she’s not as confident in her looks as she has been in the past, “You look great,” Bellamy promises.

She can honestly say it is not a bad night, she gets to know Miller, Monroe, and Roma, their friends from Virginia and she loves getting to know them, but more importantly loves how they show her a new side to her friends. She also meets Echo, Bellamy’s girlfriend, and even after only knowing what little of Bellamy she does, she can see Octavia’s point of how they don’t really fit as a couple.

She also learns that going a whole year plus without drinking has significantly lowered her tolerance. She ends up in the back of Bellamy’s cab at 3am, with he and Echo as he volunteers to make sure she gets back home back to the upper east side. She hopes that she doesn’t completely embarrass herself, but she can honestly say that she doesn't remember everything that happens.

Multiple texts the next morning from Octavia, Bellamy, Harper, and surprisingly Zoe Monroe, assure her that she hadn’t gone too crazy and that they hoped her hangover wasn’t too awful. Monroe even sends her a group photo and she saves it, promising herself she’ll actually print it out.

It’s still another month before she’s out without Jake again, this time for Octavia and Lincoln’s wedding as Best Man, Bellamy is pulling double duty also walking Octavia down the aisle, so she settles in with the rest of the crowd. Including Monty who couldn’t get away to actually attend the parties. It’s a nice ceremony, but Clarke bows out early from the reception, staying long enough to hear toasts and see the first dance. Bellamy and Echo catch up to her as she’s booking an Uber on her phone.

“I know you aren’t about to give money to my competition,” Bellamy says over her shoulder and Clarke starts, placing a hand against her chest, “come on, I'll take you home after I drop Echo off at work.”

“You don’t have to keep giving me free rides you know?”

“I know--but friends,” he shrugs.

“I’ll see you tonight?” Echo asks, when they pull up outside a bookstore, where Clarke assumes she’s working an evening shift.

“Tomorrow?” he returns, and she nods, before leaning over to kiss him. Bellamy doesn’t immediately pull away and when Clarke wonders what he’s waiting for, he turns to her with a quirked brow and shifts his eyes pointedly to the now empty passenger seat. With an eye roll of her own she hops out to join him up front.

“Are you happy about today?” she asks as they head uptown.

“Yeah, I think it worked out exactly like Octavia wanted,” he nods, “it’s all I can ever hope for with her.”

“So, Octavia tells me, you basically raised her,” she starts, she’s been wondering about it for months, but hasn’t really had a chance to ask. Even the last time they spoke, they didn’t really discuss that issue.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he shrugs her off, “I was just the one who made sure she had food, and that she actually did her homework. Mom had to work a lot, we all had to do our part.”

“Well the way Octavia tells it, you did all the hard work,” she shrugs him off in turn, determining he’s just being modest.

“She made it easy then,” Bellamy retorts back.

“You want to come up?” Clarke asks, when he parks in front of her building.

“Yeah, actually,” he grins and follows her through the lobby of her building. She grabs her mail before they head up, and she can’t help but notice he does have a bit of a nervous twitch.

“That’s the third letter I’ve gotten for a William Bellamy,” she sighs, knowing the name is a little too coincidental.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about that,” he rubs at the back of his neck sheepishly, “that’s mine and Octaiva’s grandfather.”

“Okay…” she trails off waiting for more.

“I--um...used your address to get him into a nicer home, the home he’s lived in for the last several years is unable to be sustainable financially and we have to find somewhere for him--” he rambling and cringing, waiting for her to tell him off, when she just chuckles.

“You guys could’ve just asked,” Clarke retorts, Bellamy nods reprimanded.

“Octavia doesn't know,” he answers, quick to defend his sister.

‘It was a rash decision, and I meant to tell you,” he sighs, “but then I didn’t ever feel like the timing was right--”

“Bellamy, it’s okay,” Clakre promises.

“It’s not--I swear this is not the type of person I am,” he pleads.

“I know,” she agrees, “so how do you want to make it up to me?”

“Babysitting?” he asks, “Octavia is lamenting how you don’t hang out anymore.”

“I have yoga Friday nights,” she throws it out, she doesn’t mind that he did this, but she wishes he’d _asked_ first, “I’m going to assume that Octavia is right about how good you are with kids?”

“Ehh…” he starts to backpedal, not sure he wants to give up his Friday nights, the elevator dings and she gives him an unimpressed look, “Friday’s work.”

“And I have two Saturday shifts next month,” she tacks on opening her apartment door, he’s about to really protest, when she shoots him a look and instead, throws his hands up in surrender.

Abby is quick to escape when they return, handing Jake off to Clarke, with a kiss to her cheek and a dirty look to him, “she doesn’t like me,” he laughs, closing her door.

“She's slow to warm up to most people,” Clarke agrees, shuffling into the living room, placing Jake down on his playmat, “can you watch him while I change?”

“Of course,” he gets down on the floor as well, batting at a spongy ball with his hands. Jake giggling back at his antics. He keeps up chatter with the baby, laughing along with him. It’s not until his phone dings, with a 9-1-1 text from the museum, that he even realizes Clarke never came back from her room.

“Wonder what happened to Mommy?”

**I don’t know, man**

She’s passed out on her bed, when he peeks after knocking and not receiving an answer. It looks like she sat down to put socks on and never got back up.

“Tell you what Jake, let’s let Mommy sleep and go see what the emergency at the museum is, huh?” he questions, easily locating the seat carrier perched on the kitchen table.

He makes sure to send her a text as he’s loading Jake, he doesn’t want her to worry about where they’ve disappeared to.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one didn't get a thorough read-thru...so I hope it isn't awful. One more day in December to make my goal of posting everyday.

They arrive at the museum to darkness, Bellamy has to swipe his badge to get the door to open, but the alarm is off when they pass by it, so he knows that the interns are here and working.

“Thank god you are here,” Sterling hustles up to him, when he enters the main rotunda.

**Woah! What is that thing?**

Bellamy has to secure a second hand behind Jake’s back when he bends backward trying to look up at the monstrous T-Rex skeleton. He focuses on Sterling though, “whats up?”

“We just got a huge shipment in and we have no idea where it came from, or how authentic the items are,” he takes off, urging Bellamy to follow, he does, Jake twisting and turning in his arms to be able to still see the massive skeleton.

“This definitely could have waited until monday morning,” he sighs. It was a big shipment and there were some cool items, things that he’d really love to study more, but he was positive that it could’ve waited.

After assuring Sterling of that fact, he takes Jake to the dinosaur wing, since he’d seemed so enamoured when they entered the building before.

**There are more of these things?!**

At just shy of six months Jake wasn’t overly mobile yet, so Bellamy just meanders through, what he considers, to be the most eye-catching exhibits. One of the reasons he took this job was to try and make history more exciting for younger audiences, but the dinosaurs have never struggled in that department.

He hopes to one day be at the Smithsonian, working on projects involving ancient Rome, possibly even Greece, but for now he’ll take what he can get.

Clarke can’t believe it when she opens her eyes and sees that it’s nearly 10 pm. She doesn’t even remember falling asleep, but she knows it was barely five when she’d gotten home from Octavia’s wedding.

Yawning she reaches for the baby monitor to see why Jake hasn’t woken her, only to realize it’s not on. She panics, bolting for his room quickly, realizing he’s not in the apartment at all.

She’s already processing what to say to the 9-1-1 operator when she grabs her phone and sees nearly a dozen text messages from Bellamy. The first letting her know they were going out. Several after that showing pics of her baby in various exhibits at the Natural History Museum, the panic subsides greatly but her anger grows in its place.

by the time he’s walking back through the door, with a sleeping Jake, she’s just too livid. She snatches the carrier from his hand, patting Jake, to physically check for any wounds, “Oh my baby.”

Bellamy chuckles behind her and that’s all it takes for her to spin on the spot using her momentum to punch him square in the face, “ow! Clarke?” she’s reaching out to grab the nearest object she can find before he can fully recover.

“You took my baby?” she hisses, swinging the broom she’d managed to grab a hold of.

“I was babysitting!” he retorts, blocking his body with his arms as she keeps swinging.

“That means the baby stays here and you--ow, fuck!” she drops the broom as she feels the sharp sting of wood splintering into her finger.

“What’s wrong?” he questions, cautiously dropping his hands, now that she has dropped her weapon.

“I have a splinter,” she pouts, examining it closely, before sucking on her index finger.

“Let me see,” he urges, pulling himself up, and reaching for her hand. Her anger has deflated and she reluctantly shows him her finger, “do you have a needle?”

“Sewing kit in the bathroom, above the sink,” she nods, that direction taking a seat at the table, letting her eyes scan over her infant again.

“He’s fine,” Bellamy assures once again, settling at the seat adjacent to her, needle now in hand, “He had a great evening.”

“I know,” she sighs, remembering all the pictures he’d sent, “Just from now on--ow!” She jerks her hand back, when he starts digging in with the needle.

“Don’t be such a baby,” he laughs, pulling her hand back.

“I’m not--that hurts...ow-ow-ow--” she pulls at her hand again, but this time he’s prepared and doesn’t let her jerk her hand away, “stop--” he drops the needle in frustration of her antics, and squeezes using his fingernail to force the thin sliver out.

“there we go,” he grins, triumphantly holding it aloft for her to see, “that’s a big one.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had one that big in me,” she remarks, offhand, shooting him a look when he snorts a _that’s what she said_ clearly on the tip of his tongue, “dont!”

“I didn’t say a thing,” he promises, raising his hands dramatically in innocence, “you were saying? About next time?”

“Plan to stay _here_ ,” she emphasizes, waving around her apartment, “unless we’ve discussed it first.”

“You got it,” he nods, just as the door opens to her apartment.

It’s her mother, and clarke can’t exactly say she’s surprised to see her again, but she’s distracted by jake, letting out a squeaking just woke up noise, “Alright Jake,” Bellamy easily distracts the baby, “baby five,” he makes Jake’s hand through the motions, “see ya, Clarke.”

“Thanks,” she calls after him, as Abby takes Jake from his carrier. Clarke makes sure the door is locked before turning to see her mom studying the baby closely, “What?”

“He’s not the father is he?” she questions, eyes lingering on the door, Bellamy disspaeared through.

“Mom,’she places her hands on her hips, “he’s Octavia’s older brother, you know that.”

“He also seems to have quite a bond with my grandson,” she points out.

“He’s going to do some babysitting,” she shrugs, “they hung out this evening, just the two of them, I’m sure Jake will be appropriately grumpy next time.”

“Just...you can tell me, you know? If it wasn’t actually artificial insemination.”

“Mom…” Clarke groans, “of course it was, why would I lie?”

“I don’t know Clarke, but you’ve got this man in your life suddenly, who your son seems to favor in looks and whom you, yourself, seem quite smitten with.”

“he doesn’t favor him in looks because he’s not his father,” she retorts, “and so what if I like him? He’s good with Jake and he’s been a great friend, doesn’t mean I want to date him, plus he’s got a girlfriend.”

“Whatever you say Clarke.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this one in just under the wire. I literally finished it 3 minutes before midnight...which means I've successfully posted everyday during the month of December. Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying it, and I promise this will get finished, but updates will be further apart from now on.

They settle into a pretty easy rhythm, and Bellamy is over every other Friday afternoon around 4, and she convinces Octavia and Harper that Friday evening yoga is better than Friday night partying. The class she finds only lasts eight weeks and so after it’s over she starts dating again. Jake is almost nine months old when she finally goes on her first post-Finn/post-baby date.

Cillian is a doctor that works in the surgical unit at her hospital and he’s cute. It’s not a bad date but she doesn’t exactly have a great time. He doesn’t seem to be able to separate his work life from his personal life. He spends too long talking about some of his best surgeries, and while it is cool that he is one of the leaders in his field, she would like to discuss something other than work. Then she has a horrifying foreshadow-like dream of him telling similar stories around the dinner table every night and terrifying Jake and she knows it’s going to be nothing more than a single date.

When she gets home that night, still early enough for Jake to be awake, she joins the boys watching Cars. “He’s sacked out,” Bellamy smiles as the credits roll on the TV, Jake is leaned up against his side, snuggled close.

“I’m sure he had a busy day at daycare,” she remarks, with a smile of her own.

“How was your date?” he asks quietly, lifting Jake to his shoulder to carry him into the nursery.

“Nothing to write home about,” she snorts, placing a kiss against her baby boy’s forehead, before Bellamy lowers him into his crib. She pulls his blanket up his chest, before backing out of the room with him.

“I’m sorry,” he offers sweetly, and then moves to the kitchen to being washing the dishes he’d used to make dinner for himself and Jake.

“It’s okay,” she sighs, sliding onto a stool at her bar top counter. “It was good to get back out there.”

“Speaking of,” he turns to her, “think you can find a different babysitter for tomorrow night?”

“I could probably talk my Mom into it, why?”

“Octavia was asked to fill in as drummer for the houseband at ‘Dropship’ and we were all going to go to support her,” he informs her.

“She didn’t tell me that,” Clarke reaches for her phone immediately, pulling up a text message to the woman in question.

“It was last minute and she didn’t want you to have to scramble for a sitter,” he shrugs, “but I know she really wants you there. You and Harper were her first friends in the city.”

“Well, I’ll be there,” she nods, decisively. 

“You can dip your toe in the bar scene again too,” he smirks, finishing up the last of the dishes and grabbing his coat, “Call me if you need a ride?”

“I’ll get there, let me know the time?”

Her mom offers to let Jake spend the night at their place, and Clarke waffles about it a little, but eventually decides that she can handle him spending the night away from her. And so she walks into ‘Dropship’ Saturday night, feeling lighter than she has in months.

Bellamy, Echo, Haper, Monty, and Lincoln have commandeered a table in the back closest to the stage, and she grabs a drink at the bar, before pushing through the crowd to get to them, “this crowd is amazing.”

“It’s always like this on live band nights,” Harper tells her, “It’s good to see you out and about.”

“It’s good to be out,” she nods, and squeezes into a seat between Bellamy and Lincoln. “How long until they go on?”

“Twenty more minutes,” Lincoln tells her. 

“Awesome,” Clarke grins. She’s absorbed in a conversation with Harper about the vacation she and Monty had taken last weekend until she feels Bellamy elbow her gently in the side.

“You’ve got an admirer,” he murmurs, shifting his eyes towards the bar, when Clarke raises her eyebrows at him.

She’s a gorgeous brunette and she does raise her glass when Clarke looks over and meets her eye line. “Am I really interested in a hookup right now?”

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a hookup,” Bellamy reminds her, “just dipping your toe in the water.”

“Go after her, Clarke,” Echo encourages her. Clarke doesn’t know her very well, but she imagines Bellamy does talk about her some with his girlfriend.

“If she’s still interested after Octavia’s set, I’ll buy her a drink,” Clarke decides.

Octavia kills it, and Clarke is shocked to learn her friend has so much talent. But she really shouldn’t be, everything she’s learned about the Blakes since she’s met them has surprised her in some way and it really shouldn’t by now.

“Sets over and brunette is still looking,” Bellamy sing-songs.

As soon as she congratulates Octavia, she heads over to the bar. Lexa, as she learns the brunette is named, makes it easy on her. She introduces herself and Clarke does offer to buy her a drink. She can’t say she remembers exactly what they talk about, she’s drinking and still hasn’t built up a tolerance again, but she does remember making out in the hallway to the restroom.

She goes home with a new number programmed into her phone and a little lighter on her feet than she was when she left. They text off and on for the next two weeks and then she finally has a chance to go on a date with her the next Friday that Bellamy is babysitting.

“You look nice,” she smiles, opening the door to see Bellamy, “hot date?”

“Yes,” he nods, he shrugs off his suit coat and she can see a tie, hanging from the pocket, “I got reservations tonight.”

“I don’t know how long I’m going to be,” she cautions, not wanting him to let Echo down.

“They’re flexible reservations,” he promises, “where’s Jake?”

“He must have had a bad nap at daycare, because he was ornery when we got home,” she shakes her head with a sigh, “but you might want to go ahead and wake him, or else he’ll be even worse when you go to put him to bed.”

She heads back into her bedroom to finish getting ready, and Bellamy heads into the nursery. “Hey Jake,” he murmurs quietly, shaking gently at the infant's chest. “Hey buddy,” he smiles, when his blue eyes blink up at him, sleepily.

Jake reaches up to him instantly, and cuddles close when Bellamy lifts him up. He can tell he needs a diaper change, but he figures it can wait until Clarke leaves. The doorbell rings, as he’s walking toward the kitchen and Clarke calls asking him to answer it.

“You must be Lexa?” he smiles, letting her into the apartment, before moving to place Jake in his highchair.

“You’re the babysitter?” she questions, “weren’t you at the bar a couple weeks ago?”

“Yes, to both of those,” he nods, dumping a few cheerios in Jake’s tray, before looking through the fridge. “Name’s Bellamy, and this is Clarke’s son Jake.”

“Handsome little fella,” she remarks, but Bellamy can see she’s not exactly comfortable with him. Whether it’s kids or just Jake he doesn’t know, but it doesn't sit right with him.

“Hi,” Clarke greets her with a quick kiss, shuffling into the kitchen and then back out again, “give me just a minute.”

“It’s no problem,” Lexa calls after her, “is she always this busy?”

“Yeah,” he nods again, “but she likes it that way, I think.” And then he does something that he’s not sure he can explain, he tells Lexa that Clarke is a very independent woman, and likes to pay for things and make all the decisions. He doesn’t know if it’s true exactly but he knows that he’s overheard enough from his sister that no woman appreciates paying on a date. He also can’t say he knows exactly how it works when it is two women, but since Lexa is the one picking her up, Bellamy kinda figures she’s the one who asked and would therefore be the one to pay.

Clarke is surprised when Lexa asks where she wants to go for dinner as they exit her lobby. She’d thought that since she’d asked her out she’d be the one to plan the date, but she was okay with making this decision. 

She’s learned that Lexa is a PR consultant at a firm in Midtown, so they discuss their work while they wait for their meal. And when the food comes they talk about coming out to their families. Lexa had always known she was gay and came out in middle school to her family and friends. Clarke had taken a lot longer, really only figuring herself out as bisexual during her undergrad. It was a great dinner and Clarke felt like they were really hitting it off, she didn’t even really mind when Lexa never reached for the check.

Bellamy and Jake were having a great time. After a quick dinner of spaghetti, Bellamy had had to give him a bath, but then they’d danced and partied hard. It was one of those nights where Bellamy truly realizes he loves kids, this one in particular.

“What do you think, bud?” Bellamy held up an ice cream sandwich and a pudding cup.

**Pudding cup!**

“You’re right, you don’t have the teeth for the ice cream yet,” he peels back the lid of the pudding cup, placing it and a rubber coated spoon on Jake’s tray.

After Jake finishes his pudding cup, Bellamy puts on a random disney movie and they settle on the couch together to watch.

After their dinner, Lexa again asks what Clarke wants to do, “we can go see the new Jennifer Lawrence movie,” she offers casually, she’s been wanting to see it, but she doesn’t exactly have the time to go out and see movies.

“Maybe we could do something a little more mentally _stimulating_?” Lexa asks, and Clarke knows she doesn’t mean it to be rude, or to offend her, but Clarke is and it must show on her face, “your babysitter made it sound like you were a little more on the intellectual side.”

“Well, there is a time and place for that,” she agrees, “but honestly, I haven’t been to a movie in so long that I thought it would be a fun thing to do.”

The date ends on such an awkward note, Clarke doesn’t know how she really feels about it. But she feels like Lexa might be too serious for her. She’s also rather annoyed with Bellamy and is determined to give him a piece of her mind when she gets home.

She’s built up a pretty good head of steam, until she enters her apartment. All of the lights are off, but there is a glow from the TV, and a message from a streaming app asking ‘are you still watching?’ It’s clear they aren’t, Jake is sleeping peacefully on Bellamy’s chest and she can see that he has also fallen asleep.

“Bell?” she whispers quietly, and he grumbles a little, but doesn’t wake. And she watches them over the back of the couch for a moment, before draping the blanket from the back over the two of them. “Good night.”

As she settles into her bed, knowing that Bellamy is asleep on her couch, with her son, she realizes that maybe she’s growing to like him as more than a friend.


	11. Chapter 10

Jake has been enrolled at the hospital daycare since he was six weeks old. It's an old routine by now and Clarke loves the fact that he gets social interaction and he’s even started to gain some friends, as best as toddlers can, at least.

She does wonder if he notices that he only ever gets picked up and dropped off by her, many of the other kids have both parents on the safe list, and it bothers her that maybe he knows he only has one parent. But she does her absolute best to make sure he doesn’t ever feel that, especially when they are home, he always gets her utmost attention.

“Alright, Jakey,” she sighs, he’s been refusing to eat the eggs she’s cooked and she’s at her wits end on how to convince him they're good. 

Somehow she finds herself dancing around the kitchen to some random tune on the radio, taking small bites and trying to get him to, as well.

**‘Oh no!’ Jake slaps at his face like he knows exactly how embarrassing this would be if others could see her.**

And then suddenly her hips are bracketed by strong hands and she’s pulled into the cradle of a strong, sturdy body. Stiffening at once, it only takes her a moment to realize it is Bellamy and that he’s now joined her in this silly charade to try and get her son to eat his breakfast.

He swivels their hips together and she can feel the heat rising in her cheeks, and she feels like she goes a little limp, letting him direct her motions. As the song is coming to a close he spins her and leads her into a deep bend over the kitchen table. Seconds away from their lips connecting when a spoonful of egg lands on her face, “We shouldn’t--”

He nods, letting her up and they both focus on Jake to avoid looking at each other, she can feel the heat and flush of embarrassment, can’t believe she almost kissed her son’s babysitter. Quickly beginning to wipe down the table and clean up the mess she’d made cooking so she doesn’t have to look at him. No matter what feelings she has for him, she doesn’t want to ruin the good thing they have going, Jake really seems to like him.

“He looks like you, when he’s thinking like that,” Bellamy finally comments, after several moments, and Clarke turns to study her son’s expression.

“He looks like his father,” she grumbles, noting the darkening of the baby’s hair and the way he has a small wrinkle right between his eyebrows, just like Finn when he can’t figure something out.

“I thought you didn’t know who his father was?” Bellamy’s voice sounds weird, she wishes she could place exactly why it doesn’t sit right with her, but she can’t.

“Well I don’t make that face,” she recovers quickly, “so it must be from his father, right?”

“Guess so,” Bellamy shrugs, but she can tell there is more he wants to say and she is desperate to change the subject now.

“Why are you here, anyway?” she realizes it’s fairly early on a Saturday morning and he wasn’t scheduled to babysit.

“I’m picking up Grandpa from the airport to take him to his new place and I thought you’d like to meet him,” he scrubs at the back of his neck, a nervous tick she’s noticed often with him.

“You don’t think maybe he’ll be tired from his flight?” she questions, digging for whatever has him this nervous.

“I--” he cuts himself off quickly, “the home needs you to sign some papers, and I figured it would be a good thing for you to meet him anyway.”

“All you had to do was say _‘Clarke, I would really appreciate it if you came with me today to sign the papers for my Grandpa’_ ,” she teases him gently.

“Clarke, I would really appreciate it if you came with me today to sign the papers for Grandpa,” he dutifully repeats back at her. She knew she’d have to sign something at some point, so she nods in acceptance and moves to start unstrapping Jake from his highchair.

“See,” she shrugs, “it was that easy. Let me get changed, and get this monster cleaned up and then we can go, okay?”

“I’ll take Jake,” he swoops in, taking the boy from her arms, and then carries him like a flying plane through to his room, and both of their giggles trail behind in their wake.

She still can't shake the sight of them sleeping on the couch out of her brain, she's convinced this is some biological imperative in her brain that is making her attraction to him so strong, he's great with her son, and she’s obviously craving that.

She's quick to shimmy into skinny jeans and a light sweater, summer is quickly approaching, but it hasn't quite made it yet. 

He asks Clarke to swing around the pick up zone and LaGuardia while he runs in to fetch his Grandfather. She does so begrudgingly, she has a driver’s license, she just hasn’t used it since she got it at 18 and she’s not entirely sure that airport traffic is where she wants to test her skills, but he gives her a puppy dog look, and explains how the short term parking fees are just a scam anyway.

Grandpa Bellamy isn’t quite what she expected, he seems quite young and in shape, but it’s as he’s getting into the front seat of the cab, that she realizes why he needs a facility, “who’s the broad?”

“That’s Clarke,” Bellamy sighs, “she helped us get you into the new facility, be nice.”

“She looks cheap,” he snips, turning to look over his shoulder, where Clarke had climbed in the back with Jake, “bet the kid’s not even yours.”

“Hey!” Bellamy snaps at him giving him a warning look, “be nice, or I’ll send you back to Virginia with no place to stay.”

The older man grumbles some more but doesn’t say much after that on their trip. Bellamy fills the silence easily enough all by himself anyway. Clarke learns of all the deals and hookups he has throughout the metropolis. First, he’s easily able to grab a free meal pretty much anywhere in town, he’s a great driver and he suggests restaurants to his patrons, owners and managers give him kickbacks for it. He also points out a beauty school as they pass by, letting her know if she were to drop in on the third Tuesday of every month she can get free services, because the students are taking tests.

As they make their way north to the even nicer part of the city, he’s still telling her about different places as they pass back by her apartment, and she can’t help but laugh. “You have this entire city bending to your will, and you’ve been here a total of 14 months?” she questions, “I’m rather impressed.”

“Well, when you grow up dirt poor like we did you have to learn to be creative,” he shrugs, finally pulling into the pay lot near the retirement facility. “Grandpa this is your new home.”

“There isn’t even a yard here,” he grunts, getting out of the cab, and waiting for Bellamy to grab his luggage.

“I know, but they have a monthly golf outing so you’ll still be able to keep up your game,” Bellamy replies, trying to keep the mood light.

“Welcome to _Home Away from Home_ how may we help you this morning?” The woman at the front desk greets them cheerily.

“William Bellamy is checking in,” Bellamy answers when his grandfather just stares blankly at the woman, “I’m his grandson, Bellamy Blake, and my wife Clarke Griffin.”

“Oh yes of course,” she nods, grabbing an iPad from a docking station, tapping a few things before passing it across. “We’ll need you to fill out these forms and then proof of ID to verify the address you have on file.”

Clarke hands Jake over to Bellamy so she can dig through her purse, “We’ll be over here,” Bellamy nods to a set of chairs off to the side, taking the iPad and his charges with him.

“Thank you so much,” the woman smiles when Clarke finally hands the card to her, “When I spoke with Mr. Blake on the phone, he mentioned that Mr. Bellamy was a veteran was a veteran, do you think he’d want to join our support group?”

“Oh um,” Clarke struggled, looking over her shoulder, seeing the older man, speaking harshly to Bellamy, “I don’t know that he’d be very receptive to the idea,” she sighed, “but if you guys could nudge him towards it every so often? It would probably do him some good.”

“Awesome, I’ll let our staff know,” she smiles, typing away at her keyboard, “now I’ll need to make sure that you sign the form on the iPad since it was your ID we accepted.”

“Sure,” she agreed easily, and was about to head off to her boys, when Bellamy approached with Jake and the iPad.

“Your all set,” she receptionist nodded glancing over the iPad, “would you like to see Mr. Bellamy’s apartment before you leave?”

Bellamy glanced quickly at Clarke to make sure it was okay before nodding to the woman, “That would be great, thanks,”

“We’ll have a team member here shortly to show you around,” she smiled.

Clarke was awed as they moved through the building, it was better equipped than her building and even her Mom’s building. It had several fitness activities including a pool and indoor mini golf. There was a convenience store on the fourth level so that residents didn’t have to leave, and several different restaurants on the fifth floor. His apartment was located on the seventh floor, fully furnished and top-of-the-line appliances to boot.

They don’t stay very long, it’s clear that he’s a grumpy man by his nature, but she starts to think it may be more than just his nature, he did have an early morning traveling and she imagines anyone would be tired at that point. 

“Thank you so much for this,” he sighs when they finally settle into the cab, “and I’m sorry, he’s not usually _that_ mean.”

“It’s fine Bellamy,” she promises placing a hand on his forearm, and giving it a quick squeeze, “but if you don’t mind me asking how can you afford this place?”

“Well he gets a discount for being a veteran, and he has his retirement benefits from that, plus he has money from his family--”

“Bellamy…” she cuts him off and hopes she doesn’t have want to sound too intrusive, “if your grandfather has all of this money, why did you--?”

“He cut my mom off when she got pregnant at 16, from a brown man, no less,” he rolls his eyes, “he never really came around, but when my mom died and I was only 19 he agreed to be Octavia’s guardian, on paper only, but I owe him for that,” he shrugs softly and his head ducks, and Clarke can tell he is quite embarrassed about his tale.

“You don’t owe him _anything_ ,” she sighs, squeezing at his forearm, and he opens his mouth to say something else, only to be cut off by a squeal from the backseat.

“He’s probably hungry,” Bellamy settles on instead and starts the car effectively ending the conversation.

“There’s some cheerios in here somewhere,” she mumbles digging through the diaper bag.

“Let me take you guys to lunch?” he asks, joining the traffic heading back south.

“Sure,” she nods, softly. “This isn’t a restaurant,” Clarke remarks as they pull into the underground parking at the Museum.

“No, but they do have a cafeteria and I get free food,” he winks, already moving to get Jake from the backseat. He leads her through the employee entrance, “now, I can’t make a habit of this, but it won’t hurt anything to give you free entrance and a free meal.”

He hands Jake to her and then grabs a few sandwiches, an uncrustable, a couple bags of chips, a squeeze applesauce, and 3 bottles of water, before nodding for her to follow him through a set of doors marked _‘Closed to the Public’_.

And then she is transported back in time, to before humans even existed. There are massive models of prehistoric creatures and Jake gasps in her arms, eyes wide as they gazed up at the giant creatures. “This is amazing Bellamy,” she spins around already moving through the exhibit.

“Thanks,” he’s setting up a small picnic on the floor, but ducks his head and she can see the pink rising in his cheeks, “it’s my first solo exhibit.”

“What?” she spins back to him.

“Yep, it’s set to open next week, but I figure it won’t hurt anything to give you and my main man Jake a preview,” he grins, “let’s eat, and then we can wander.” And that’s exactly what they do, taking in all that his exhibit has to offer.

And later that night as she lays next to him in her bed, both of them nude, she can’t help but sigh to herself. _Yep, definitely in love._

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you keeping track at home, I have now posted 19 consecutive days!


End file.
